HB 1456 Oklahoma House · 2025 Regular Session

Elections; Elections Act of 2025; effective date.

HB 1456 allows registered Oklahoma voters or candidates who are directly affected by election law violations to sue election officials who fail to enforce those laws. It requires them to first send a written demand to the official within one year of discovering a violation, then file a lawsuit within six months if the official doesn’t act. If the court rules in their favor, 30% of any fines or compensation awarded goes to the plaintiff, plus reimbursement for attorney fees and court costs. The bill, effective November 1, 2025, creates a new private enforcement mechanism for election law compliance without changing voting procedures or election rules.

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 3, 2025 Last action Feb 10, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Proposed Policy Committee Substitute 1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended by the Policy Committee to replace the original text with a new version that establishes a legal enforcement mechanism for election law violations. The new version adds a requirement for written demand before filing civil suits, sets specific timeframes for filing actions, and changes how fines are distributed between the state and the plaintiff.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from a general elections act to specifically address enforcement of election laws through civil actions by registered candidates or voters.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement that registered candidates or voters must serve a written demand to proper officers before filing civil actions for election law violations.

TIMELINE

Added specific timeframes: written demand must be made within one year of discovering evidence of violation, and civil suits must be filed within six months of the officer's refusal to act.

FISCAL

Changed the distribution of fines from unspecified to requiring that 30% of meritorious awards be paid to the plaintiff while the remaining 70% goes to the State of Oklahoma.

DEFINITION

Added a definition for 'registered candidate or voter' to include those affected by election law violations at state, county, city, district, or political subdivision levels.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed the bill from not being codified to being codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 16-127 of Title 26.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 10, 2025

Committee

Referred to Civil Judiciary

lower

Feb 10, 2025

Committee

Referred to Judiciary and Public Safety Oversight

lower

Feb 3, 2025

Introduced

First Reading

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors